Posted by Admin on December 26th, 2010
This page is for the discussion of general crossword related matters and other topics of interest.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 26th, 2010 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Archive.
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February 19th, 2013 at 1:39 pm
Hi John,
Music can bring people together in a marvelous way. Here in Galera, a pretty “white village” in the Altiplano de Granada, my wife’s beautiful soprano and my adequate bass, has made us friends throughout the place. Our choir does not sing Flamenco as such, but we do sing popular songs by revered poets such as Federico Garcia Lorca, whose works are used in some of the best Flamenco. So music and poetry come together here as so often in art!!
Yes, Klever Kath as she referred to herself sometimes, can wow you with popular songs like Blow the Winds Southerly and the Keel Row , but for me her singing in Das Lied Von Der Erde, especially in the Abshied is unsurpassed.
I’m also a lover of modern classical music as well, with Webern and Schoenberg along with Britten who we have already mentioned to the fore.
My popular musical blind spots: Country and Western and Rap, but you can’t win them all!!
All the best,
David
February 28th, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Hi Eileen over from your latest Araucaria blog,
I was a pupil at the Wyggy until 1971 under the incredibly scary Miss Pedley. I expect some of my teachers were still there in ’74. You may have taught my younger sister (by seven years), although we were like chalk and cheese. When my parents moved she had to move schools to do her A Levels and wishes she had not; it was not a success. Going from a strict girls’ grammar to a decidedly ‘modern’ mixed sex comprehensive did not bring out the best in her academically. She has done well since and is now Head of a school for complex learning difficulties (mainly autistic students). I taught Biology in a rural comprehensive in Cheshire for many years until taking early retirement last summer. I now have time to do the crosswords, but today have popped in to the local Primary school to volunteer my help. I do miss the teaching, but none of the rest of the job.
I do miss Leicester too and always enjoy going back. Last time I saw the Clock Tower I couldn’t believe it had blue faces!
Feel free to contact me directly via my email address if you fancy reminiscing about Wyggy Girls and finding out if you taught my sister.
All the best,
George
February 28th, 2013 at 6:39 pm
Hi George
I’ll do that – but I’d just like to say here how very thrilled and proud I feel just now to belong to Leicester. I’ve always been a closet Richard III apologist – never having joined the Society, but very familiar with Middleham Castle, where he grew up – and I was totally engrossed in Channel 4′s ‘King in the Car Park’ http://www.channel4.com/programmes/richard-iii-the-king-in-the-car-park/4od and its follow-up yesterday evening. It’s a truly amazing [and, I found, very moving] story! I mentioned @234 the Drop-in that I go to on Thursday afternoons, which is literally just yards from The Site and it was great to see a considerable little queue for the exhibition today.
March 6th, 2013 at 2:10 am
A quick note regarding some comments that came up at Guardian 25,886 yesterday. Some concern was expressed about R C Whiting’s absence for a week.
As I understand it, the bloggers can email posters. Would it be possible to drop him a brief note mentioning that he is in people’s thoughts?
All the best,
Huw
March 6th, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Huw @254
Duly done.
March 9th, 2013 at 4:20 am
In reference to Guardian Prize #25885 by Puck, clue for 26a ‘orang’ = ‘ape’.
===
Any English-language speaker who is sufficiently fluent in Indonesian to read an Indonesian newspaper or understand televised news is well aware that the latter language contains numerous loan words from English.
The number of Malay loan words in English language is much smaller by far but there are enough to indicate a long history of intermingling between the English-speaking world and the Malay archipelago—proof positive that “culture” and “cultural influence” is not just a one-way street.
While it is impossible to believe that lice were not thriving on Western sailors’ bodies before the arrival of Western ships to these shores, the common English word for lice, “cooties”, comes from the Malay word “kutu”. The name of the tomato-based goo that Americans slather on almost any kind of edible item, and which they call “ketchup”, is derived from the Malay “kecap”, a soy-based sauce. (One wonders where the tomatoes come from!)
What English language speaker doesn’t know the meaning of “to run amuck”? But does he also know that the term comes from the Malay word “amuk”? The name for paddy fields in English comes from padi, one of the Indonesian words for rice. “Bamboo” comes from “bambu” and “batik” is “batik” but imagine referring to Dorothy Lamour, popular film actress of the 1940s and 50s, as the “Wrap-around Girl” instead of the more inviting sounding “Sarong Girl”!
And what about that most common of English-language phrases, “so long”, expressed when saying farewell or good-bye? That phrase entered the English language through British soldiers who had served in Malay-speaking countries. When their Malay interlocutors said “Salam” (from the Arabic word for “peace”) the British soldiers heard it as “Sa-lang”, the pronunciation of which was further mashed when spoken by the civilian populace in Britain.
Orangutan (orang hutan), rattan (rotan), cockatoo (kakatua), gong, tuak, compound (kampong), sago, durian, agar, rambutan, keris, pantun, cassowary (kasuari), gingham (ginggam), caddy (kati), camphor (kapur), guttha-percha (getah perca), dammar (damar), gambir, lahar…. The list of Malay loan words in English goes on but one of my favorite loan words is “godown”, for warehouse (gudang).
* These notes courtesy of John McGlynn of the Lontar Foundation in Jakarta, Indonesia.
March 10th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Collins thinks amok/ amuck comes from Malay amoq, rather than amuk. I expect John McGlynn (which name, until recently, was loaned out to a Scottish football club) will sort them out.
I hate orang for orang-utan: by the Saints, it’s only two extra syllables!
March 10th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
hi PaulB b @ 257
Collins can think what it likes. [After all, Collins thinks that 'koala bear' is fine!]
In Malay, there is very little (or no) use of the letter ‘q’. So, amok = amoq (a la Collins).
I also hate ‘orang’ for orangutan. Pure laziness to call an ‘orangutan’ an ‘orang’.
March 10th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Two things….
1. Me and my wife are ex-Richard III Society members, for those that might want to know, see above
2. OK Let’s see who reads the same books as me, the correct equivalence for orangutan is of course The Librarian! (just don’t use the M word!)
March 10th, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Well ‘Michelle’, to be fair to Collins, they are likely to be a bunch of supremely-talented lexicographers, whilst you, by your own admission, didn’t know until Everyman helped you out today what BEANO, SOFT SOAP, or E-BOAT are.
So, intricacies of Indonesian-English loan-words no problem, common English words a mystery. I don’t know whether or not you are a real beginner, or just pulling the collective 15^2 leg for some silly reason, but there are for me some curious anomalies in your (very well-written, jargon-laden) posts.
March 11th, 2013 at 2:40 am
Paul B @ 260
I started doing the Guardian crosswords in January 2013, and started reading the fifteensquared posts at the same time in order to understand how to solve and parse cryptic crosswords.
Yes, there are huge gaps in my English vocabulary including such common words as you mention above.
Luckily I can learn a few new words each week through doing the puzzles, as well as learning other new things as well.
I majored in Indonesian studies at university, and lived in Indonesia for about 20 years, so that may explain why I am familiar with Bahasa Indonesia.
March 13th, 2013 at 1:44 am
Re the topic started by michelle above.
Take ‘godown’. It is said the word comes from Malay ‘gudang’. The Tamil word is ‘gidangu’.
‘Camphor’ from the Malay ‘kapur’? The Tamil word is ‘karpuram’.
We know that in early centuries Tamils from southern India went to Malaya for work and business. Could some words used by them passed into the Malay language and thence to English?
March 13th, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Rishi@262
good point regarding gudang / gidangu. I think it highly likely there is interchange between Tamil/Malay vocabulary.
Regarding ‘camphor’, ‘kapur’ in Malay/Indonesian = ‘chalk’.
Collins definition is: camphor, noun
a whitish crystalline aromatic terpene ketone obtained from the wood of the camphor tree or made from pinene: used in the manufacture of celluloid and in medicine as a liniment and treatment for colds. Formula: C10H16O
word origin = C15: from Old French camphre, from Medieval Latin camphora, from Arabic k?f?r, from Malay k?p?r chalk; related to Khmer k?p?r camphor.
Yes, the Malay word ‘kapur’ could be derived from ‘karpuram’, but this is beyond my sphere of knowledge.
March 13th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
re my post above, I copied and pasted from Collins. The parts that do not read well are:
from Arabic kafur, from Malay kapur / chalk; related to Khmer kapor / camphor
(sorry, I cannot replicate the accents in this post)
April 17th, 2013 at 10:46 pm
Just done a crossword from the Times Book 10 and couldn’t work out this clue. Despite having Thatcherite in the clue it is obviously an old crossword so that is just coincidence.
“Girl initially expressing Thatcherite principle” Answer Tina
Thanks anybody
April 17th, 2013 at 11:22 pm
Tina is an acronym for there is no alternative, a slogan used by Meg the arch Tartar
April 19th, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Coltrane at 249, that’s the rule I recall hearing too.
Er, weird….
April 19th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
I apologise if this has previously been asked. I’ve tried to skim through the thread but am having to do so on a phone so I may have missed any prior discussion.
I don’t see puzzles from The Times being blogged here. Is there a particular reason for this: etiquette? Tradition? I don’t get the Times but a friend does and it seems this site, an otherwise outstanding resource, would not be of help to him on the occasions he becomes stuck.
I hope I’m not breaking any taboos by asking but apologise unreservedly if you are all not staring fixedly at your shoes and shifting uncomfortably in your seats.
Phil
April 19th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Hi Phil
The Times is blogged elsewhere (as is the Telegraph). Go to the ‘Links’ page on the menu bar towards the top of the screen and you will find links to both sites.
April 19th, 2013 at 5:12 pm
Hello all
I’m a budding compiler. If you’re in need of a quick cryptic fix my puzzles aren’t too difficult and your feedback would be most welcome.
http://brominicks.wordpress.com
Thanks
Brominicks
April 19th, 2013 at 8:12 pm
Thanks, Gaufrid, for the helpful and prompt advice! Sorry not have worked this out for myself.
Genius, me.
May 6th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
This is posted on Big Dave’s site – will it be advertised here as well?
Sloggers and Betters 10
May 23, 2013 5:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Event
6 Hours
A Sloggers and Betters meeting for crossword setters and blog contributors and readers will take place in London, following the annual Times Setters’ Lunch.
May 6th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
P.S. It’s at:
The Town of Ramsgate 62 Wapping High Street, LondonE1W 2PN
May 14th, 2013 at 8:36 am
URGENT: PLEASE READ
I help at our local City of Sanctuary Drop-in for asylum seekers and, along with the other volunteers, was shocked at the weekend to hear that one of our clients, one of the most delightful young men I have met, had been arrested, detained in Morton Hall, Lincolnshire, and faced with imminent deportation [at 00.10 next Wednesday, 22nd.] A petition to the Home Secretary to stop this was immediately put together and every effort made to publicise it as widely as possible. You can read Abdul’s story and sign the petition here:
https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/release-abdul-ghafar-rajabali-and-halt-his-deportation
May 14th, 2013 at 10:00 am
Shocking case. Managed to get a wireless signal long enough to sign, and to share on Twitter & Facebook (I’m near Cape Wrath). Will try to do more when I get home next Sunday.
May 14th, 2013 at 10:20 am
Thanks a million, Arachne.
I don’t do Twitter or Facebook and, apart from my email address book, this is the widest forum I could think of. [Over a thousand signatures now.]
[I hope the weather is being kind to you. x]
May 14th, 2013 at 11:30 am
Done; all the best for the petition
May 14th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Hi Eileen.
Signed and shared on FaceBook. Hope it makes a difference.
May 14th, 2013 at 11:02 pm
I am so grateful to those of you who took the trouble to follow the links and sign the petition. There has been at least a 50% increase in the number of signatories during the day and I know that a fair number of them have come from here. If you google Abdul’s name, you’ll now find a pageful of links, which demonstrates the power of the internet. Apparently, if you can spare the time, individual letters to the Home Secretary add considerable impact.
I gave a lot of thought overnight as to whether this was an appropriate thing for me to do here but, having met a number of you on social occasions, I thought it was worth the risk: it’s not very often that we can honestly describe a situation, such as this, as a matter of life and death and I was anxious to contact as many of my friends and acquaintances as possible.
I really can’t commend this young man too highly. I have known him for months now but, because of his unassuming and generally [amazingly] cheerful attitude, and, such is the nature of what we try to do, I wasn’t aware of all the appalling details of his story until this weekend, when the petition was issued.
There is just one week to go, so please publicise this as widely as you can. The volunteer who has had the closest association with Abdul, and who organised the petition, told us, at our emotional City of Sanctuary AGM yesterday evening, that she’d been involved in a case where a stay of deportation was granted just ten minutes before the due departure time, so, as she said, ‘It’s never over till it’s over.’
Many thanks again – I’ll keep you posted.
May 15th, 2013 at 9:13 am
Signed. Thanks for bringing to my attention Eileen!
May 15th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Also signed.
And I feel a bit guilty about returning to a site matter now.
Some blogs are appearing in a different format, full page rather than the usual three columns. Is it me? Or is there some way to set one view rather than the apparent randomness at the moment? Thanks.
May 15th, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Hi sidey
I’m sorry to hear that you are having display problems. This is the second report during the last few days (see the site feedback page). The only recent software change has been the addition of a plug-in to cache the site’s content. This has been necessary due to the large number of unwanted bots crawling the site and creating excess demands on server resources.
Would you please let me have a little more detail of what you are experiencing and which browser you are using as I have been unable to replicate the issue in IE10 (by email if you prefer).
May 15th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
I’ll email you a screen capture next time it happens Gaufrid. I’m using Pale Moon (Firefox in disguise).
Last time I saw it I noticed a button at the bottom of the page, something like ‘Toggle Mobile Mode’. It didn’t do anything.
May 15th, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Hi sidey
Thanks for the feedback. The other visitor who was experiencing problems was also using Firefox, something I will not do as when it was installed on my last machine it was responsible for frequent crashes. I am therefore unable (or rather unwilling) to see if I can replicate the problem.
Your reference to the ‘Toggle Mobile Mode’ supports the suspicion I have that the cache plug-in is not compatible with the plug-in that generates a mobile friendly display (WPtouch).
May 15th, 2013 at 6:47 pm
(Until now silent lurker)
The blog has been displaying inconsistently for me too – I assumed changes were afoot and things would normalize soon. I use Google Chrome on Ubuntu, not Firefox – which is why I’m mentioning it.
For me, so far this week, Rufus’s (Monday) and Paul’s (today) were normal, while Philistine’s yesterday was the newfangled version. At the bottom of the new one it says “mobile theme” and there is an on/off toggle, which doesn’t seem to do anything. I thought it might be some option the blogger had.
Really enjoy the site by the way. (I also signed the petition and posted it on Facebook.)
May 15th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Hi Kristi
Welcome, as you are a newcomer. Please see my post and subsequent comments here:
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2013/05/15/display-problems/
May 16th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
I signed. A worthwhile initiative, Eileen. Keep us informed of developments.
May 17th, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Thanks, Eileen, for alerting us to this dreadful situation. You also have my support and I look forward to news of the petition’s success.